Financial products traditionally have been marketed by providers through the use of financial advisors as agents. As such, the product providers rely upon the agents to perform a host of essential tasks to sell their products. For example, the agents typically identify prospective clients and determine which of the various financial products are appropriate for that client. Before recommending a product however, an agent may spend considerable time investigating the product. Some questions that may be investigated by an agent are: What criteria exist to qualify as an investor? What asset class(es) are involved? What are the potential tax consequences? If a fund, who are the advisors and what investment styles influence decisions? What is the performance history of the product? Where does it fit within a client's portfolio?
Considering these and many other factors that should be investigated by the agent as well as the provider, the volume of transactions that can be undertaken by a given agent is relatively limited.